Hundreds of airline passengers faced serious delays at Manchester Airport today because of the heavy snow.

By 2pm approaching 100 flights had been affected, with passengers forced to remain in their seats for hours as efforts were made to de-ice aircraft.

Frustrated passengers say they were told by pilots that only two de-icing trucks were available.

Steph Durbin-Wood, 49, from Trafford , told the M.E.N. she had been stuck in her seat on board a Thomson Airways flight bound for Barbados, where she plans to celebrate her 50th, for more than two hours.

“When we first boarded we were told we were first in line for de-icing. Then we were third and now we’re 20th. It’s absolute chaos,” she said.

She continued: “They’ve told us they can’t open the bar or serve food. At the moment they are suggesting they might be able to get us cold drinks or cakes but it’s not happened yet. The airline is saying they can’t do anything about it.

“It’s still snowing here but it’s not particularly heavy.”

Lesley Cook, 42, from Urmston, said she had been stuck on her grounded Jet2 plane bound for Tenerife for four hours.

“The pilot has told us there are only two de-icing trucks at the airport so they don’t have the necessary equipment,” said Lesley.

She added: “We’ve been here so long that they have even changed the crew. We’re only going to Tenerife for the weekend for Mother’s Day. We’re supposed to be back Monday. Let’s hope we get there. Everyone is pretty patient at the moment but there are people om here with young kids. I feel really sory for them.”

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said the airport and its runways were open as normal.

He said the delays were caused by the need for aircraft de-icing, which he said was the responsibility of individual airlines and their contracted ground handling agents.

They added: "Manchester Airport is still fully open for flights; however the snow is causing delays to departing aircraft.

"We apologise to passengers affected by the delays caused by the aircraft de-icing process - which is carried out by the airline and their ground handling teams. As always the safety and security of all our passengers is of paramount importance and we advise them to continue to check the status of their flights with their airline."